Construction begins on Dunbar Pavilion Business Empowerment Center

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The Dunbar School, a historic landmark once symbolizing segregation, is being converted into a center to assist local Black-owned businesses.

Construction began this week on the Dunbar Pavilion Business Empowerment Center, which aims to provide resources and a dedicated space for Black entrepreneurs to thrive.

Freda Marshall, the executive director of the Dunbar Pavilion, showed 13 News the transformation in progress.

“Speaking with small business owners, they want to be around people who are also creative, who are also in the first phase or stage of business development, and just get encouragement,” Marshall said.

Work to eliminate lead and asbestos from the structure is complete, and now demolition is underway.

A former locker room from 1943 is being converted into a conference area and meeting spaces. The center is meant to be a collaborative environment for small business owners who don’t have a storefront yet.

“We want to be that space where people can get away from their dining room tables,” Marshall said. “Sometimes they work in the bed at 12 at night, their closets, their trunks, and just come into a professional environment.”

The city of Tucson is leading the project. The nonprofit got more than $1 million from a HUD Community Block grant, which was initiated by the late Congressman Raul Grijalva.

Marshall said more funding is needed to fully complete the space, and they are always looking for donations.

“We’re always looking for grants that will not only help us with infrastructure and capital, but our programs as well,” Marshall said.

The Dunbar Pavilion is still open during construction. The more than 100-year-old building located at 325 West 2nd Street serves as the center for several programs and resources that support Tucson’s African American community.

Classrooms are used as meeting spaces, and the auditorium can be rented out for various gatherings.

Marshall invites anyone to stop by, take a look around, and learn more about the history behind the facility.

Construction on the first portion of the Business Empowerment Center will be complete by February 2026

Dunbar is hosting technology training workshops for seniors and financial wellness workshops. For more information on their host of events, visit their website.

To understand the legacy and power the building possesses, you have to go back in time to understand its history.

Following statehood in 1912, the Arizona Constitution mandated that African American children attend segregated schools.

Tucson’s first African American school, known only as the “Colored School,” established in 1913, was held in the back of the former Stonecypher Bakery at 215 East 6th Street and was under the direction of principal Cicero Simmons. Today, the building is a marijuana dispensary.

By 1918, Tucson’s African American students were moved to the then newly constructed Dunbar School off West 2nd Street. It served as the city’s only segregated school for more than three decades.

In 1952, Dunbar School was integrated and renamed John Spring Junior High.

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